The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1887-11-11
EDISON'S NEW PHONOGRAPH.

EDISON'S NEW PHONOGRAPH
A reporter of the Eteaing Post lately
interviewed Mr.. Edison, and obtained
the following interesting particulars
When found in the laboratory of his
lamp factory in Newark, from which
4 1000 lamps day are now sent out,
Edison said that the commercial phono-
graph is now the most interesting thing
in the world to him, although it is per-
fectly finished, and tools are being made
for its manufacture upon large scale.
The stories which Edison tells of what
his perfected photograph will do are so
extraordinary that he scarcely expects
people to believe him, and yet he says
that the apparatus is so simple, so
effective, and so Immediately useful that
he is certain of its rapid introduction
into BUSINESSMAN more certain than he
was of the universal adoption of the
telephone as a business instrument.
Edison said of his newly finished phono.
graph You know that finished the
first photograph more than ten years
ago. 1t remained more or less of toy.
The germ of something wonderful was
perfectly distinct, but I tried the inn
possible with it, and when the electric
light business assumed commercial i'm
portance, I threw everything overheard
for that.
Nevertheless, the photograph has
been more or less constantly in my
mind ever since. When resting from
prolonged work upon the light, my brain
would revert almost automatically to
the old idea. Since the light has been
finished, have taken up the phono-
graph, and, after eight months of steady
work, have made it commercial inven-
ton. My monograph I expect to see
in every business Office. The first five
hundred will, l hope, be ready for dis
tribution about the end of January.
Their operation is simplicity itself, and
cannot fail. The merchant or clerk who
wishes to send letter has only to, set
the machine in motion, and to talk in
his natural voice and at the usual rate
of speed into the receiver. When he
has finished, the sheet, or phonogram,
as I call it, is ready for putting into a
little box made on purpose for the
mails. We are making the sheets in
three sizes-one for letters of from SOC
to 1000 words, another size for 1000
words, another size for 1000 words. |
expect that an arrangement may be
made with the post Office authorities en-.
abling the phonogram boxes to be sent
at the same rate as letter.
1.-THE receiver of phonogram will
put it into his apparatus, and the mes.
sage will be given out more clearly,
more distinctly, than the best telephone
message ever sent. The tones of the
voice in the two monographs which
have finished are so perfectly rendered
that one can distinguish between twenty
different persons, each one of whom has
said a few words. One tremendous adj
vantage is that the letter may be repeat
ed a thousand times if necessary. The
phonogram does not wear out by USE
Moreover, it may be filed away for a
hundred years and be ready the instant
it is needed. If a man dictates his will
to the monograph, there will be no dis.
putting the authenticity of the document
with those who knew the tones of his
voice in life. The cost of making the
phonogram will be scarcely more than
the cost of ordinary letter paper. The
machine will read out the letter or mes
sage at the same speed with which it
was dictated.
II have experimental with device
for enabling printers to set type directly
from the dictation of the photograph,
and think that it will work to a charm.
1t is so arranged that the printer by
touching lever with his foot allows five
or ten words of the phOnogram to be
sounded. 1.-The is not satisfied with the
first hearing, he can make it repeat the
same words over and over again until
he has them in type. For busy men
who dictate a great deal for the press, I
am sure that the photograph will be a
necessity after very little experience.
For musicians the photograph is
going to do wonders, owing to the ex-
treme cheapness with which I can
duplicate phonograms and the delicacy
with which the apparatus gives out all
musical sounds. In the early phono-
graph of ten years ago, which was a
very imperfect and crude affair COM
pared to that of to-day, it was always
noticed that musical sounds came out
peculiarly well. The machine would
whistle or sing far better than it would
talk. This popularity of the phono-
graph remains. l have taken down the
music OF an orchestra, and the result is
marvellous. Each instrument can be
perfectly distinguished, the strings are
perfectly distinct, the violins from the
cellos, the wind instruments and the
wood are perfectly heard, and even in
the notes of a violin the overtones are
distinct to delicate ear. It is going to
work wonders for the benefit of music
lovers. A piece for any instrument, for
the piano, or for an orchestra, or an act,
or the whole of an opera, musical instru-
ments and voices, can be given out by
the photograph with a beauty of tone
and distinctness past belief, and the
duplicating apparatus for phonograms
is so cheap an affair that the price of
music for the monograph will be scarce
ly worth considering. As the phcnogram
will be practically indestructible by
ordinary use, such music can be played
over and over again.
"My first photograph, as you re-
member, consisted simply of roller
carrying the foil, and provided with
diaphragm point properly arranged to
scrape OF indent the foil. The roller
was turned by hand. In the new instru-
ment there is far more complication,